Samuel Maverick

Samuel Augustus Maverick (23 July 1803-2 September 1870) was Mayor of San Antonio, Texas from 1839 to 1840, succeeding Antonio Menchaca and preceding John William Smith. Maverick's refusal to brand his cattle led to the word "maverick" entering the vernacular to describe a rebellious person.

Biography
Samuel Augustus Maverick was born in Charleston, South Carolina, and he graduated from Yale University in 1825. In 1829, he became a lawyer in Virginia, and he failed to join the South Carolina state legislature, to run a gold mine in Georgia, and to supervise slaves in Alabama, so he decided to move to Texas in 1835. Maverick settled in San Antonio, and he was arrested by the Mexican Army at the start of the Texas Revolution, only to be released on 1 December 1835. Maverick and Benjamin Milam fought together at the Siege of Bexar as Texian Army soldiers, and Maverick caught Milam's body when he was shot in the head during the siege. Maverick was posted at the Alamo until 2 March 1836, when he left to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence, becoming one of the founding fathers of the Republic of Texas. From 1839 to 1840, he served as Mayor of San Antonio, and he was imprisoned by the Mexicans from 1842 to 1843 when Mexico invaded Texas once more. In June 1843, he was elected to the Texas House of Representatives, and he became a major landowner. Maverick served in the Texas Legislature after the United States' annexation of Texas in 1845, and he supported remaining in the Union alongside Sam Houston, although he would ultimately vote for secession and convince David E. Twiggs to surrender all US Army bases in the state to the Confederate States Army. From 1862 to 1863, he again served as Mayor of San Antonio, and he helped in reorganizing the Democratic Party after the American Civil War's end. He died in 1870 at the age of 67.